GATTOKUGINOUS BLEXNY. 



that " keeps in the neighbourhood of rocks, in water of 

 four or five fathoms depth. I have heard of its taking 

 the hook, but it is more commonly caught in crab-pots, 

 and consequently occurs in spring and summer, when that 

 fishing is chiefly followed. It is called Tompot by the 

 Cornish boys. At the end of May I have found it large 

 with roe, the grains of which are, some of them of a mul- 

 berry, others of a lead colour ; I have also seen numerous 

 and minute young ones at the same season. In its stomach 

 I have found various bivalve shells, parts of a star-fish, 

 and of the common jointed corallines, and brown seaweed. 

 Specimens occasionally measure eight or nine inches in length." 



Some differences have been noticed in the descriptions 

 and figures of this fish among several of the early, as well 

 as of the more modern authors, and it is probable that a 

 nearly allied species may have been sometimes mistaken 

 for the gattorugtne. I have, however, ventured to consider 

 the Gattoruginous Blenny of Pennant, Montagu, and Do- 

 novan, as the same with that now described. A dried spe- 

 cimen of gattorugine from the Mediterranean, now before 

 me, is the same as the English fish. 



The forehead slopes considerably : viewed in front, a 

 groove appears between the eyes, which ends in a channel, 

 passing downwards behind each eye, formed by the elevation 

 of the bones of the orbit on each side ; from the upper and 

 rather the posterior part of each eyelid arises a branched 

 membrane, the eyelids extend considerably over the cornea 

 all round ; the nostrils are circular, in a depression, and 

 above each is a small fimbriated membrane, plainly observ- 

 able with a lens : the lips are thin and loose, turning up or 

 down to a considerable extent, exposing the teeth ; these 

 are placed in a single row in each jaw, are long, slender, and 

 semi-transparent, unequal in length in the front, almost 



